Can't Help Falling In Love
by JuliaJuliaJulia
Summary: A week's worth of Al and Mei fluff of how they realise they love each other


This is just a quick one-shot about the week when Al and Mei finally get together. Enjoy, review and PM me if you'd like more!

Disclaimer: I do not own Fullmetal Alchemist

* * *

 **Monday**

He spent all day looking at her. _We're obvious, huh?_ Ling's words to him last night had clearly made an impression on Al, as suddenly, without meaning to, he found himself staring at Mei on more than one occasion. He knew the soon-to-be Emperor had mentioned it in a jovial way but now he couldn't help but take it seriously. Since when did he have feelings for Mei? When he first arrived in Xing three years ago, he and Mei had been completely platonic despite any affection she showed to him before.

He quickly told himself they weren't feelings. He was just taken aback by all the jokes Ling made the night before. And yet he couldn't stop thinking that actually she was beautiful. Mind-blowingly so. Stand-still-in-the-corridor-until-she-asks-if-you're-okay beautiful. Even drop-your-spoon-during-breakfast beautiful. He couldn't believe he hadn't noticed it before.

She sat reading in the courtyard until she fell asleep on whatever book it was and he just watched from his window. He observed the rise and fall of her chest, the curve of her jaw, the waves in her hair, everything. And he would have happily watched all day had Zampano not walked into his room and caught him, red faced and red handed.

* * *

 **Tuesday**

She wasn't stupid. She had seen him looking at her weirdly all day yesterday and not talking to her properly either. He had been short and distant with her; something he never was, not in their five years of knowing each other. She decided she'd give him another chance today to redeem himself or she wouldn't talk to him until he apologised.

"Al! You ready for training today?" she chirped as she bounded up to him.

"Oh Mei, hi. Y-yeah I'm ready when y-you are." he stuttered and whipped his head away from her face, she thought in anger.

She frowned and kept walking. She had grown up a lot since she first met him and now walked with a sense of dignity and composure she never had before. That wasn't to say she'd lost her feisty edge or her confidence; she'd simply mellowed a bit. That maturity was the only thing stopping her from punching him right now.

Every Tuesday they would spar and exchange tips; they each had their skills when it came to combat and Mei swallowed her pride one day to ask for Al's help in improving her own. To her surprise he said he had a lot to learn from her as well, which almost made her well up with tears. Being the youngest heir to the throne meant no one had taken her seriously as a good fighter, but Al's belief in her revalidated her self-confidence in her fighting skills.

She usually loved how he never held back because she was smaller or younger or a girl so it annoyed her even more today that he wasn't fighting back. She threw two kicks to his ribs in frustration which threw him back rubbing his chest.

"Hey! What was that for?" he whined, nursing his bruises.

"For not taking this seriously!" she yelled and stormed away from him. If he was going to be a child about this then so was she. No more talking until he apologised.

* * *

 **Wednesday**

He really didn't know what to do. He was so confused by all these sudden feelings he couldn't think straight. Forget fighting Mei, he could barely talk to her without stumbling over his words. And now to top things off, she wasn't talking to him.

He decided to spend the day researching and taking his mind off the whole thing so he buried his head in some books. Al honestly couldn't have tried harder to forget about Mei but he just wasn't able to. Every book he read led back to her in some convoluted way. And for some reason, despite the circumstances, he had to let a smile creep onto his face whenever he thought of her.

He knew he needed to see her but first he needed to figure out what to say to her. She hardly ever got angry with him so he wasn't used to being in this position. He eventually decided to wing it, after giving up at finding the right thing to say.

He knocked on her door. "Mei?"

"Go away. Unless you're here to apologise to me."

"I am, just let me in. I don't want to do this through the door."

The door creaked open and Mei's sceptical face was revealed on the other side. "Come in."

Al slipped through the narrow gap she made and wandered over to her bed. He instinctively sat but suddenly didn't know if that was right or not. He squirmed a bit uncomfortably. She simply stood with expectant eyes and crossed arms signalling it was his turn to talk. He cleared his throat and began.

"Mei, I'm sorry about yesterday. I didn't mean to be so distant; I've just had something bothering me the last few days..." he paused. He was in dangerous territory and tried to back out as inconspicuously as possible. "Uh nothing major! And definitely nothing to be worried about, just a small... thing." He looked up at her from the bed for a reaction.

She just tapped her foot on the floor a few times and sighed, exasperated, as she sunk onto the bed next to him. "You're such an idiot," she said, "You know, you can tell me anything. I thought that's how we did things. But you being all secretive is getting on my nerves. I know you need your own space but whatever it is you can talk to me. I'd much prefer that than this."

He looked into her good, honest, pure eyes and realised she was right. She deserved to know something.

* * *

 **Thursday**

She was still angry with Alphonse but at least he had tried some form of apology. Plus she always knew she wouldn't stay angry with him for long; his golden brown puppy dog eyes were bound to get to her at some point. They'd made up last night and agreed to forget the whole thing.

She was walking to the imperial courtyard again holding her book. She wanted a drink but still wasn't used to asking people to do this kind of thing for her, so she took a detour via the kitchen to pick up a cold glass of water before anyone could stop her. As she went by the maids' quarters, she overheard them giggling about something. She pressed her ear to the wall and listened in.

"-and I saw him looking through his window at her in the gardens!" one squealed excitedly while the other chuckled.

"But haven't you seen Princess Chang as well? She can't help blushing every time they talk! It's not some one-sided love or anything."

"Oh no, of course not! But I'll bet five dollars he's the first one to admit it. I doubt she even knows she's in love."

"Give Princess Chang some credit, she's not so oblivious to her own feelings. And she's not likely to sit back and let someone else steal him away! You're on." They both continued to giggle as Mei backed away from the wall. She wasn't entirely sure why but she broke into a brisk walk, then a jog and a sprint away from the kitchen all the way to the outer edge of the gardens, away from everyone else.

Eventually she stopped and sunk to the ground, exhausted. Again, inexplicably to her, tears started to form in her eyes but she quickly blinked them away calling herself stupid. She wasn't the kind of girl to cry over something so stupid, was she? She sat on the grass and slowed her heavy breathing to calm herself down. What was making her so irrational? She was actually quite level headed normally; the last time she remembered feeling this way was... when Al came back to her.

Alphonse. He made her feel this way. Whenever she heard he was coming back to Xing or even when he sent her a letter her heart jumped and she got butterflies in her stomach. Was she really so blind this whole time? Was she... falling in love with him?

* * *

 **Friday**

He tried to forget everything for a while. He just wanted to enjoy being with Mei for some time before he started figuring out how he felt. So, he decided, Friday was their day to enjoy and forget everything and everyone.

They headed out into the town on the outskirts of their province to explore the new market and trading stalls that had started up there. This small village had quickly become a full town in the space of a few months after it had been included on a popular trade route through the province and it was now home to a whole marketplace of stalls from all over Xing and beyond.

"That's not true at all! I've just been training more that's all." Mei giggled as he complained about how hard her kicks had gotten and that she had to have been trying to kill him.

"Yeah, yeah, you seemed perfectly at peace when we sparred the other day." he drawled sarcastically. He knew calling her hot-headed was a particular soft spot for her and was trying to get back to their usual chatter.

"Shut up! _I_ was fine, _you_ were just pissing me off that day." She looked at him briefly and paused. "Anyway, let's just forget about it." She looked off into the distance as they walked and ended their conversation there.

"Hey, are you alright Mei? You seem a bit off today." He reached for her hand and gently held her wrist to stop her.

She looked down at his hand for a second but he couldn't quite decipher her expression before she jerked her hand away and muttered "I'm fine." Even in the bright sunlight and with her face turning away from his he could make out a tiny blush on her cheeks.

They wandered through the market looking at all the stalls and the different foods or trinkets they were selling. He kept trying to make her laugh, trying on the strangest hats available or practising speaking the different dialects of Xingese that he could. Every time she would burst into her usual laughter and then suddenly reserve herself and stop. He couldn't help feeling a little hurt but he wasn't ready to admit why. Not yet.

As they were walking Mei suddenly grabbed his arm and squealed. "Oh my god! This is food from Northern Xing, I've never tried this before! They're known for having the spiciest food in the world. Can we try some, please?" She looked pleadingly into his eyes, and knowing his own fear of spicy food he followed her to the stall and bought them some lunch.

They both sat with five dumplings each and a lethal-looking red sauce to go with them. Mei dug in excitedly, chomping down her first in no time and mumbling through stuffed cheeks, "It's delicious," while Al looked apprehensively at his food. "What's wrong?" she questioned.

"Nothing!" he smiled back and picked up a dumpling.

"You have to try the sauce, it's incredible!"

He reluctantly dipped his dumpling in the sauce and in one huge bite ate the whole dumpling. It felt alright at first and Mei was right, the flavours were incredible, but then it hit. His mouth was on fire and all he could feel was the pain and nothing else. He quickly swallowed before it hit the back of his throat and he coughed violently.

"Are you okay? Alphonse!" she shouted, rubbing his back reassuringly.

"I'm fine," he croaked and then gestured to her bottle, "can you just pass the water?"

On their way back to the palace she laughed so loudly it was fortunate no-one was around to hear them. "Oh my god, your face!" she howled, snorting and laughing in the least ladylike manner possible.

"I'm not used to spicy food, okay?!" Al said, but seeing her face contorted in laughter always set him off too. He chuckled along with her for a while before she started clutching her sides.

"Time out, time out! My stomach hurts," she breathed. As they caught their breath they caught eyes and looked at each other for an uncomfortably long time. He still couldn't tell what she was thinking with that look she was giving him, but he never would have predicted what she did next.

She placed her hand on his face and pulled herself up to his level with it, pressing her lips to his as softly as anything. Just as she was about to pull away his brain kicked into gear and he kissed her back more firmly. She sunk back down onto her heels and trailed her hand down his chest. Then, and too soon for his liking, her eyes widened with shock and she wordlessly ran back to the palace by herself.

He knew she had made things a lot more complicated but he couldn't but smile as he followed after her.

* * *

 **Saturday**

"Hey," he said, knocking gently on the door, knowing full well she was inside and awake, despite it being well past midnight.

"Hey," she whispered quietly, not more than a breath able to come out. "I think we need to talk."

"Yeah." He slid down next to her, back against the dresser and legs stretched out in front while hers were bent up to her chest. They just sat awkwardly for a while before Mei started to talk.

She was so nervous she couldn't stop her verbal upchuck. "I'm sorry about this afternoon! I mean it's not like I didn't mean it because I did but I don't feel good about it." She looked at him to meet a frown. "No! No, I felt good about the actual kiss; I mean the kiss was good, and nice, but... I guess I don't feel good about putting you in an awkward position. I shouldn't have; that's not what princesses are meant to do and it's not what I should have done." She still saw him frown, this time with a raised eyebrow. "I mean I didn't know if you wanted it, I still don't really know, but I just did it in the moment and I just..." she trailed off as she looked dead into his eyes. "I just wanted to know what it would be like."

"And?" Al said, the faintest of smiles on his mouth. "What was it like?"

She immediately felt the blush running onto her face, her cheeks surging with blood. "Uh..." He placed a hand over hers and held it delicately, like treasure. She realised now was not the time to lose words or feel shy and she cleared her throat a little before answering him honestly. "It was everything I wanted it to be like. It was great."

Her heartbeat drummed loudly in her chest and she wondered if he could sense it through her fingertips.

Meanwhile, the young man simply nodded and smiled quietly. "Mei, I have something I need to tell you." He grabbed her eyes with his and kept her full attention on him. He saw her deep, dark eyes reflecting his bright, golden ones and felt they were made for each other. "The reason I've been acting so weird this last week, the reason I haven't been able to focus around you and the reason I kissed you back is all because, well, I... I think-"

"I think I'm falling in love with you." Mei finished for him while he sat, shocked, at her admission. She gave him a soft smile and kissed his cheek lightly. "Sorry, I just wanted to be the first to say it. I know I'd regret it if I didn't."

He let out a sigh of relief as he laughed and she chuckled along with him. "Thank god," He tentatively ran his fingertips along her jaw and held her cheek in his hand. "Because I've definitely fallen for you."

And before he knew it his lips were brushing hers and she kissed him again as he scooped up her face and kissed her back, properly this time. They kissed again, and again, and finally broke apart when their smiles could no longer be contained within a kiss. He pulled her legs across his and wrapped his arms around her waist as she hugged him tight.

When they detangled their arms from each other, she gave him a quick, light kiss and whispered against his lips, "I love you, Alphonse. And I might keep making fun of you but I really, really love you."

He kissed her forehead. "That's fine. I can't help it, Mei. I love you too."


End file.
